


Visitation

by JinxedAmbitions



Series: AK One Shots [8]
Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Homophobia, M/M, Mentions of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 20:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxedAmbitions/pseuds/JinxedAmbitions
Summary: Deran doesn't get too many visitors while he's in jail, but there's always one person willing to find an excuse to drive down to see him, even if it's as flimsy as giving him the surf report.





	Visitation

“Cody, you have a visitor,” one of the guards called from outside his cell.  

Deran looked up from where he was staring into his open palms.  He’d been doing a lot of that since arriving at the jail. Other than a few fights with other inmates, Deran had been left to deal with a lot of introspection.

He missed the ocean and waking up early to paddle out.  He missed competing more than anything. He still hadn’t come to terms with Smurf pulling him from the tour by refusing to fund him anymore.  

“Cody, let’s go,” the corrections officer said again when Deran didn’t move fast enough.  It was hard to move fast with this much bruising over his ribs, but Deran got to his feet and followed down to the visitation area.

Other than Craig stopping by once, Deran’s only visitor had been his lawyer.  Deran wondered if Smurf regretted pulling the plug on his sponsorship with how much she had spent on this lawyer.  Deran could have definitely done another year competing with that money alone.

Deran tried not to show any weakness as he walked through the facility.  His whole body ached, but he thought he was holding himself together rather well.  He’d ask Craig to get Smurf to put some money in his commissary, and maybe he could trade for some cigarettes.  God, what he wouldn’t give for a cigarette.

It wasn’t Craig who was waiting on the other side of the glass panel.  It wasn’t Smurf or even Pope or Baz.

“What are you doing here?” Deran asked as he picked up the phone.

“Wanted to see how you were doing,” Adrian said, already holding the phone to his ear.  

“You saw me in court like two weeks ago,” Deran retorted, holding onto the bravado that had been only just getting him through since his sentencing.

Adrian laughed.  The asshole had the audacity to laugh when Deran was behind a glass panel wearing a jumpsuit.

“Yeah, and I’m used to seeing your ugly mug everyday,” Adrian shot back.  “Besides we were down surfing Imperial beach, so I figured I’d stop by while I was in the area.” 

“You just thought you’d stop by,” Deran repeated, disbelieving.  

“You got a problem with that?” Adrian challenged, looking right at Deran.  “Didn’t have any trouble getting in, so it doesn’t seem like Smurf or your brothers are lining up to see you.”

Deran just frowned at his best friend.  Adrian had never hidden his distaste for Deran’s family, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d be so forward now.

“You need any money?” Adrian asked, his voice getting quieter, gentler.  

“Smurf has me covered,” Deran lied.  He wasn’t going to take Adrian’s money.  He certainly wasn’t going to let go of his pride just to be able to get himself some cigarettes, no matter how shitty he was feeling.

Adrian gave him a look that said he didn’t believe him for a second, but he didn’t argue.

“The waves were great this morning...the sky was really clear, so you get blinded when you start paddling for a wave, and the sun just hits you full on—”

“You came all this way to give me the surf report?” Deran snapped.

“Why not?” Adrian asked, shrugging.  Deran could read the emotion in his eyes, but he tried to ignore it.  It was too hard to look at Adrian when he was upset. 

“Because I’m locked up.  Why the hell would I want to hear about the surf?” Once again, it was all bravado, but bravado was all anyone had in here.

Adrian gave him a flat look.  “When I snapped my collarbone and couldn’t leave the house for weeks because it wouldn’t set properly, you came every morning to give me the wave report,” Adrian said, holding the phone a little tighter and practically whispering into it.

It brought to mind memories of the night before his sentencing.  They’d gotten high, and it had gotten late. Just before Deran had to leave, Adrian had pulled him in and kissed him.  It had been desperate, and Adrian had begged him to take care of himself because he didn’t want to lose him. 

Deran tried not to think about just how heated it had become.  However, his mind didn’t stop thinking about the way they’d torn at each other’s clothing, or how they’d practically wrestled each other there on the beach until Deran had had Adrian pinned in the sand.  

“Fine, knock yourself out,” Deran finally said, not trusting himself to say anything else.

Adrian launched into a detailed description of the waves.  He told Deran about each of the rides he’d gotten, as though he’d been cataloguing them since Deran went away just for when he came to visit. 

“The gang all miss you. Told me to say hi for them,” Adrian said after he’d exhausted every last detail of his morning surf.

Deran nodded.  He didn’t know what to say to that.  He wasn’t going to tell Adrian to say hi back.  That was lame as hell, and honestly, Deran didn’t want to think about everyone on the outside.  It just made it harder.

“Has Craig been by?” Adrian asked when they lapsed into silence.

“Once right after I came in.”

“And Smurf?”

Deran shrugged.  

“You sure you don’t need me to put any—”

“I’m fine,” Deran snapped, then he bit his lip.  He shouldn’t be taking things out on Adrian. He knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

“You sure look great. That black eye a fashion statement?” Adrian asked.

Deran flipped him the bird instead of saying anything. Deran watched in horror as Adrian’s eye misted over.  Adrian cursed under his breath on the other side of the glass. He blinked several times before clearing his throat.

“You’re taking care of yourself?” Adrian asked quietly.

Deran shook his head, wanting to shake Adrian instead and tell him to snap out of it, but he sighed and let his shoulders sag.  “Yeah, I’m taking care of myself. Welcoming committee. It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Deran promised him. He was grateful that Adrian couldn’t see the rest of his body and the bruises that littered it.  It was a small mercy, but he also knew Adrian wasn’t dumb enough to believe the black eye was the extent of the damage.

“Okay,” Adrian said.  

“Thanks for visiting,” Deran forced himself to say because Adrian deserved to hear it, even if Deran had no doubt this visit would bite him in the ass.

“It was good to see you,” Adrian told him, pulling himself together.

“You too.  Make sure you don’t let everyone get too full of themselves while I’m not there to put them to shame,” Deran said.

Adrian laughed.  

“Take care of yourself,” Deran finally said.

“Yeah, you too.”

They both paused a moment, wrestling with whether to say anything else, but before he could do something stupid, Deran put the phone back on the hook and stood up.

Adrian nodded and did the same.

Deran felt a little bit lighter on his walk back to his cell.  As much as he’d wanted to push Adrian away, it had been good to see him.  It would have been good to see Craig too or any of his family, but it was Adrian who no doubt went out of his way to have a reason to stop by.  From his report, Imperial hadn’t even sounded that phenomenal today, so there really wasn’t a reason to drive down for a mediocre break unless Adrian was itching to visit him.

Deran couldn’t fight the smile that put on his face.  Unfortunately, other inmates noticed him mood as well.

* * *

“Cody, visitor,” The guard called from the doorway of the cell.

Deran grimaced as he sat up on his cot.  His cellmate gave him a sympathetic look as he shifted his aching body.  Deran was grateful that his cellmate wasn’t one of his tormentors. At least for now, he was safe in his own cell.

“Let’s go, Cody,” the guard called as Deran shuffled toward the entrance of the cell.  There was no hiding his pained gait today. His whole body still ached from the beating he’d taken two days earlier.

The other inmates’ taunts still echoed in his mind.  His family wasn’t protecting him in here, and everyone seemed more than happy to exploit that.

Deran cursed under his breath when he saw Adrian sitting on the other side of the glass again.  It had been two weeks, but no one else had visited him. Even Craig had been noticeably absent. It probably meant they had a job coming up and didn’t want to show their face around him after what he’d been caught doing.  Deran tried not to take it personally.

“Imperial must be having its own El Niño if it warrants two trips down in two weeks,” Deran said as he picked up the phone.

“I was actually competing in Mexico,” Adrian corrected him smartly.  

Adrian looked good.  His freckles stood out on his lightly tanned skin, which always made Deran smile.  He used to tease Adrian about how he’d become one giant freckle when he got any sun.

“How’d you do?” Deran tried to sound casual, but he knew it came out equally eager and bitter.  He should’ve been down there competing with Adrian, but he still wanted to hear that Adrian smoked the competition.

“I was too much in my head.  It was pretty embarrassing, but I stayed a couple days anyway.  The waves were great. Sleeping on the beach with the crew wasn’t bad either,” Adrian told him.  His eyes traveled over Deran as he spoke, taking in every visible scratch and bruise.

Deran wanted to be annoyed with Adrian for blowing a good opportunity when Deran couldn’t surf at all, but he couldn’t be.  He knew Adrian’s nerves got to him sometimes. Hell, nerves got to all of them sometimes. And sometimes even if you were mentally present, your wave still had a mind of its own.

“Sounds nice.  So, you just thought you’d stop here on the way back?”

“Pretty much.”

“Right.”

“What happened to your face?” Adrian asked quietly.

“What does it look like happened?” Deran snapped.

Adrian looked annoyed with his response, but Deran wasn’t about to apologize.  Adrian got to travel up and down the coast surfing and hanging out with friends while Deran got the shit beat out of him on a regular basis.

“Does your family know?”

Deran glared at Adrian.  “No, and they aren’t going to find out,” he said between gritted teeth.

“Because they aren’t visiting you.”

“Did you just come here to be a dick?” Deran asked, gripping the phone like he might just start beating the glass with it.

“Did you get the money I put—”

“I told you not to put money in my account,” Deran ground out.  He couldn’t admitted that the money Adrian had put in there was the only thing keeping him sane over the last couple weeks.  He’d managed to barter himself several packs of cigarettes which had been his only relief from his current reality.

“Your account had nothing in it.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Sorry, I don’t want to see you suffer the way Smurf does.”

“Fuck you,” Deran snapped.  “I don’t want to take you money.”

“Get over it.  In the long run you’re saving me money because you aren’t smoking all my stuff,” Adrian retorted.  

It was an olive branch.  Adrian was offering Deran’s pride an out.  In reality, they smoked just as much of Deran’s weed as Adrian’s, but Adrian was well versed in handling Cody pride.

“How’s the shop?” Deran asked, changing the subject to something lighter.

“Same as ever.  Had a few big days when the swell came in, so we had more repairs than usual, but you know how it is.”

“When are you going to open your own shop and stop working for Tao?” Deran asked.  He’d been asking Adrian that since Adrian turned eighteen, and the answer was always the same.

“When I have a million dollars to blow on anything I want.”

They fell into easy banter after that, avoiding the topic of Deran’s bruises or his family.  By the time Adrian left, Deran was feeling better despite the pain he was in. He was even looking forward to Adrian’s next excuse to visit.

Until he ran into his usually tormentors.  “That your boyfriend that keeps visiting you?” one asked when they caught him in the yard.

“One of my brothers,” Deran told him without missing a beat.  

“Yeah?  You let him fuck you too, or is it just your mom that gets that pleasure?”

Deran balled his fists, knowing how this dance played out.  They wouldn’t attack him here. They’d wait until they had some privacy then they’d gang up on him.  It didn’t really matter what Deran said. It always ended in pain. Deran gave as good as he got, but he didn’t have the power of numbers like they did.

He tried not to think about Adrian while they alternated between kicking him in the kidneys and the ribs.  

* * *

Deran didn’t say anything as he lifted the phone to his ear.  Adrian had dark circles under his eyes and a sad look on his face already.  They just stared at each other for nearly a minute before the tension became too much.

“What happened to you?” Deran all but snapped.

Adrian shook his head.  “Just been having a rough week,” he said.

Deran closed his eyes and swallowed down all of the things he wanted to shout over the line about how Adrian couldn’t visit anymore.  “Why haven’t you been sleeping?” he asked more calmly this time.

“I keep having nightmares,” Adrian practically whispered over the line.  

Deran balled his fists beneath the counter, not wanting Adrian to see his reaction.  “I’m fine,” Deran told him.

“I hardly recognize you…”

“Then you’re going blind.”

Adrian snorted, but he didn’t reply.  “I surfed with Craig last week. Asked if he’d come to see you, and he said he stopped by regularly.”

Deran rolled his eyes.  “Did you chew his head off about it?”

“You two are practically inseparable.  It’s bullshit that he hasn’t visited.”

“It’s not his fault.  It’s Smurf…”

“It’s bullshit.”

“You shouldn’t be visiting me either,” Deran said, biting his lip as it slipped out.

“Don’t—”

“You don’t think they make it harder on me every time you visit?  I’ve been pissing blood since the last time you visited.”

Adrian looked stricken.  He opened and closed his mouth several times before putting the phone back on the hook and standing up.

Deran felt sick as he watched Adrian walk away, but there was nothing he could do to stop him.  He couldn’t take back what he’d said. He wouldn’t take back the truth.  He didn't sleep that night though, or the next three.  His mind was too preoccupied with hurting Adrian and having no way to apologize because it wasn't likely that he'd be visiting again.

* * *

“Cody.”

Deran was surprised when he had another visitor by the next visitation day.  He was practically knocked off his feet when the person waiting for him was Pope, and he was already holding the phone as he waited for Deran to sit.

“Guys giving you trouble?” Pope asked, expression as unreadable as ever.

Deran didn’t say anything, but clearly he didn’t have to.  “I’m taking care of it. Call me if it happens again.” 

“Thanks,” Deran said quietly.  It was humiliating that Pope was here to witness his failure to handle himself.

“Thank Adrian,” was all Pope said before hanging up the phone.

Deran sat and watched him walk away.  He didn’t know what Adrian had said or given to Pope for Pope to pay for Deran’s protection, but Deran knew it had to be worth more than anything Adrian put in his commissary, and Deran wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to pay him back for the favor.  

* * *

Adrian woke with a start.  He wasn’t sure what exactly had caused him to rouse, but he was on high alert.  

Scanning the dark bedroom, he startled when he saw a shadow at the end of his bed.  Adrian groped around behind him for anything he could use as a weapon, but the shadow spoke before he could find anything of use.

“I didn’t mean to get here so late.  Missed my transfer in San Diego,” Deran said, stepping around the end of the bed into the meager light that came through the blinds.  His hair was a weird length, and his beard patchy, but it was definitely him, and he still looked good.

“You’re not supposed to be out for another week.  I was going to drive down with Craig,” Adrian said, still feeling like he might be experiencing hallucinations to go along with the heart attack he was definitely having.  Deran couldn’t be here, not really. This was just the setup for another nightmare where Adrian watched him die in a prison yard.

“They needed my bed for someone else, and called it good behavior,” Deran said, shrugging his shoulders.  

“Smurf happy to see you?” Adrian asked bitterly.  He knew for a fact she hadn’t visited or “baby boy” even once.

“She doesn’t know I’m out yet.  Thought I’d spend a couple days with you…” Deran trailed off, sliding his knee onto the bed between Adrian’s spread legs.  His hands rested on Adrian’s bare shoulders, rubbing the tension out of them.

“You thought…” 

Deran leaned forward and kissed him slowly, pushing him down onto the covers as he positioned himself over him.  “I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Deran,” Adrian whispered, burying his fingers in Deran’s hair and holding him tightly.  He let his knees bracket Deran’s hips to hold him in place in case he got any ideas about moving back. Adrian didn’t trust this not to be a dream if he couldn’t feel Deran’s skin against his own.

“You asked Pope to pay for my protection.  I don’t even think I’d have the balls to do that, and he’s my brother,” Deran muttered against Adrian’s neck where he was peppering kisses which were sending sparks of arousal all over Adrian’s body.  “What did you offer him?”

“Nothing.  I just told him that if he wanted to see his brother again, he’d visit you before there was nothing left of you.”  It was a paraphrase. Adrian had dropped a few curses in there when he’d unceremoniously showed up on Pope’s doorstep in the middle of the night.  Pope, of course, had been awake because Adrian didn’t think the man actually slept. He’d taken Adrian’s rant well enough. When Adrian had exhausted himself, Pope had only asked, “ _ Is that all?” _ before shutting the door in Adrian’s face.

Deran shook his head.  “It didn’t occur to you to ask Craig.”

“Craig doesn’t have any money,” Adrian retorted.  He’d seen Craig drop more on coke than Adrian made in six months on a single party.  The man had no sense when it came to saving what he earned for things like paying for his brother’s protection.

“You shouldn’t have done it.”

“I couldn’t have anything that happened to you on my hands,” Adrian said, running his palms over Deran’s shoulders and down his back.

“I’m okay.”

“No thanks to Smurf,” Adrian reminded him.

“Let’s not talk about my mom when I’m about to fuck you, yeah?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  You smell like hospital disinfectant and public transportation.  If you want celebratory sex, you are taking a shower first,” Adrian teased him.

Deran growled, burying his nose in Adrian’s neck before dragging him out of bed and toward the bathroom.  He supposed showering together was another option.


End file.
